Reflections (at different times) on ecumenical or interfaith issues, theology, spirituality, ministry, the arts, politics, popular culture, or life in general ... occasionally, just some funny stuff.

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

"... Just as you did it ...": a sermon (Matthew 25:31-46)

On the day for which I prepared this sermon (5th January 2014), using the version of the Revised Common Lectionary we use in the Uniting Church, I have a choice of four sets of lessons from Scripture for the service:

There were the lessons for the Second Sunday after Christmas.

There were the lessons for the following day, Monday, 6th January, the Day of Epiphany.

Also there were two sets of lessons for the preceding Wednesday, 1st January. One set of lessons was for the celebration of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus.

As well, the other set of lessons was for 1st January as New Year's Day.

In this service, I'll include the Gospel lesson for the Day of Epiphany, I'll select most of the hymns with Epiphany in mind, and I'll prepare most of the prayers with Epiphany in mind. I'll also include the lesson from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospel lesson for New Year's Day, and I'll preach on the Gospel for New Year's, Matthew 25: 31 - 46.

***

St. Patrick’s Anglican
Cathedral in Dublin has a stained glass window honouring the Guinness family, a
family known throughout the world as master brewers and throughout Ireland as
generous philanthropists (and as faithful Anglicans).

Given both the brewing and
the philanthropic activities of the Guinnesses, the appropriate scripture text
to put on the window was rather obvious.It comes from today’s gospel lesson:“I was thirsty and you gave me drink.”

In our gospel lesson, Jesus
gives us a powerful and poetic image of the climax of human history.And many of us may find it more helpful to
treat this material in Jesus’ teachings as being poetic in nature, rather than
something we must necessarily interpret literally.In today’s lesson, Jesus tells about a great
scene of judgement, a great sorting-out of humanity.And this scene can also speak to us about all
the little judgements we face every day of our lives, as well as it can to any
great future event.

Let’s enter the scene as
set by Jesus.The ruler of the universe
is about to pronounce judgement upon humanity.A rag-tag group is asked to move forward.As they shuffle to the front, a few sneering
remarks can be heard:

·“A bunch of
bleeding heart leftie do-gooders,” one voice snarls.

·“Heretics.
Theologically unsound.” intones another voice.

·“Hoi polloi.Not our sort at all,” a third voice brays.

A shocked silence results,
both from the scoffers and from the rag-tag company, as the verdict is read
out:

Come, you that are
blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world, for:

·I was hungry
and you gave me food,

·I was thirsty
and you gave me something to drink,

·I was a
stranger and you welcomed me,

·I was naked
and you gave me clothing,

·I was sick and
you took care of me,

·I was in
prison and you visited me.

And the response from the
rag-tag group to the verdict was a stunned “Did we? . . . Did we really?”

Truly I tell you,
just as you did it to the least of these … you did it to me.

As the next group is called
up, many in the crowd have their fingers crossed.If the first group was given great joy
because of their active generosity and hospitality, perhaps the next lot would
be condemned because of their active evil.Perhaps the active “bleeding-heart leftie do-gooders” would be followed
by some active “do-badders”.Perhaps
many waited to hear something like this:

·I was hungry
and you stole my food.

·I was thirsty
and you polluted my water.

·I was a
stranger and you said “Stop the boats.”.

·I was naked
and you paid money to stare at me.

·I was sick and
you made my medication too expensive.

·I was a
prisoner and you said, “Throw away the key!”

But the prosecution case
was not focused only on the active “do-badders”.Of course, they were there, and they were
there in droves.And they got
theirs.

But there were also many
... ordinary people brought up to answer the charges alongside the Pontius
Pilates and the Neros; alongside the Hitlers and the Stalins, alongside the Bashir al-Assads and the Kim Jong-Uns.These
people were “ordinary’ in two of the ways we use the word “ordinary”.

·They were
“ordinary” in the sense that some politicians and talk-back radio personalities
use the word “ordinary”, as in the sentence “I represent the views of many ordinary
people in the community.”

·They were also
“ordinary” in the sarcastic sense that many Australian sports commentators use
the word “ordinary”, as in the sentence “Both sides played some really ordinary
football this afternoon.”

Alongside the Pontius
Pilates and the Neros; alongside the Hitlers and the Stalins, alongside the Bashir al-Assads and the Kim Jong-Uns were many ordinary people ... and I mean really
ordinary.

And the case against them was
based on some really ordinary behaviour:

·I was hungry
and you ... did nothing.

·I was thirsty
and you ... did nothing.

·I was a
stranger and you ... did nothing.

·I was naked
and you ... did nothing.

·I was sick and
you ... did nothing.

·I was a
prisoner and you ... did nothing.

As
I said, it was some really ordinary
behaviour.

And that was the case for
the prosecution. ... And it was enough.

For those of us who are
heirs of the Protestant Reformation, this passage of scripture sits
uncomfortably with much of our religious upbringing.

·We were taught in
Sunday School, in confirmation class, in some hymns, and in far too many
sermons that our good works ultimately mean nothing in terms of our status
before God.

·We were taught
that our status before God is a matter of “by grace we are saved through
faith”, which for far too many Christians merely means “getting our theology
right”.

·As a result,
there are those who believe that people who “get their theology wrong” are in
eternal trouble, however actively they reflect God’s love in their lives.

As a result, for some
Christians, this is the sort of passage that there is great pressure to
“explain away”, almost as if Jesus had said something like this to those who
were blessed by God:

·I was hungry
and you preached to me about the bread of life, even if you didn’t bother to
offer me anything to eat.

·I was thirsty
and you lectured me on my drinking habits.

·I was a
stranger and you examined me on my theology of the atonement, biblical
inspiration, infant baptism, and sexual ethics before allowing me to become a
church member.

·I was naked
and you expressed your moral disapproval of my appearance.

·I was sick and
you told me that my illness was a sign of a lack of faith.

·I was in
prison and you debated the shortcomings of liberation theology.

Of course, we need to
affirm the importance of God’s radical grace over and above our religious
busy-work.It’s not a question of how much
prayer time we clock up each day.It’s
not a question of how many “justwannas” a minute we can pack into our
prayers.We are called to trust God’s
radical grace rather than our religious busy-work.And, in this light, we need to continually
emphasise the importance of God’s radical grace in contrast to our religious
busy-work.

The problem is that many
Christians take this emphasis on grace to mean that “getting our theology
right” is more important to God than the ethical quality of our lives.And let’s be honest here:any people who believe that “getting our
theology right” is more important to God than the ethical quality of our lives
have really got their theology wrong … dead wrong.

Here, in this climactic
passage in Matthew’s gospel, we hear a challenging message

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About Me

I grew up in the United States and have lived in Australia since 1980. I'm a retired (recycled?) minister in the Uniting Church in Australia. At various times, I've been a parish minister, ecumenical staffer, and hospital chaplain. Some of my interests include theology, liturgy, ecumenism, interfaith relations, history, politics, the arts, humour, and Christmas in popular culture. (I did my doctorate on Advent and Christmas as a "season of opportunity" for churches to relate to their communities.)